ABSTRACT
In Japan,2 approximately 293,100 police personnel are employed, of which 7,700 are personnel working for the National Police Agency (NPA) (2,100 police officers, 900 imperial guards, and 4,700 civilians), and 285,400 are prefectural police personnel (257,100 police officers and 28,300 civilians) (NPA, 2014). However, according to a white paper produced by the Japanese National Police Agency (2008), approximately 10,000 police officers will retire each year between 2006 and 2015, meaning that approximately 40 percent of the force will need to be replaced in this period. The same white paper (NPA, 2008) also argued that the Japanese police force urgently needed experienced officers to share their skills with younger officers, particularly their interviewing skills. According to the survey of detectives, as many as 78 percent of the 1,431 detectives believed that interrogation techniques and skills must be passed on from the older to the younger generation (NPA, 2008).
